This week on the Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report, host Butch Thierry checks in with Capt. Patric Garmeson of Ugly Fishing LLC for a full inshore playbook (trout, reds, flounder, drum, and sheepshead), then goes offshore with Thomas Hilton of Hilton’s RealTime Navigator to break down what “fishy” wahoo water looks like right now. The episode wraps with Melissa Miller previewing the 2026 Mobile Boat Show and what to expect on the floor.
Conditions Recap
Alabama is stuck in a classic winter rollercoaster: spring-like 80-degree days followed by mornings in the 20s, plus wind and rain that have made offshore opportunities limited. When it’s calm and warming, inshore fish are sliding shallow and acting more like spring patterns. When it turns cold and nasty, protected water in rivers and tributaries has stayed productive.
Clear water has been a major theme in the rivers, and boat pressure on bluebird days can make fish more cautious. The consistent advice: match your plan to the trend. Warming trend, move toward shallower, more open bay water. Cooling trend or heavy wind, lean into rivers, tributaries, and protected structure.
Inshore Report
Mobile Bay, rivers, and “mix-bag” trips with Capt. Patric Garmeson (Ugly Fishing LLC)
Patric reports some unusually good February variety when conditions allow. On the warmer, calmer windows, he’s putting together days that include speckled trout, redfish, sheepshead, flounder, and drum in the same trip. When weather gets rough, he’s sliding back into protected rivers and still finding fish and variety.
For anglers who simply want consistent action, Patric says bait has been a big equalizer. He’s been keeping live shrimp on hand, but noted a surprise: fresh dead shrimp has been producing as well as (and at times better than) live for redfish, drum, and flounder. Live shrimp still tends to shine on sheepshead. If bait is scarce, he recommends buying food-grade shrimp from a seafood market, keeping them on ice, and letting the day decide whether they become fish bait or shrimp tacos.
For trout, he still prefers lures whenever possible, but he points out that live shrimp can be extremely effective in deeper systems like the Canal and Mobile River. A simple setup is a live shrimp hooked on the horn with a small split shot (or free-lined when conditions allow), letting it sink naturally through the water column to reach suspended fish.
Clear water adjustments: smaller line, lighter heads, slower fall
When trout are tough and water is clear, Patric has been applying a tackle tweak he picked up from the Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report: downsizing braid and leader to improve casting distance and presentation with very light jigheads. Instead of the common 20 lb braid approach, he’s had success with 8–10 lb braid and 8–10 lb fluorocarbon leader paired with ultra-light jigheads (often 1/16 to 3/32 oz) to get a long cast and a slower, more natural sink.
Product notes that came up in this section:
Slick Lures in smaller profiles (Slick Jr and Little Slick), paired with light jigheads and a slow, controlled fall. Jighead and terminal tackle mentions included Mustad hook jigheads, Gamakatsu jigheads, and “Eye Strike” style swimbait heads (as referenced in conversation). Retail/tackle mentions included Bass Pro Shops for finding lighter jigheads and hooks in the needed sizes and wire strength.
The practical reason for the lighter setup is simple: it lets you cast small, light lures farther and keep them in the strike zone longer without fighting heavy line issues (including reduced casting distance and more wind knots when working super-light baits).
Spring outlook: flounder everywhere, sheepshead waves, bull reds next
Patric’s biggest “what does this mean for spring?” signal is how many flounder he’s seeing across multiple systems since early January. He’s also already seeing sheepshead showing up in batches, then disappearing after fronts—more like waves moving and resetting. As the spawn ramps up, he expects bay structure, bridges, rock, rigs, and hard structure to hold fish through the season if salinity stays right.
His ideal spring inshore trip is a sheepshead bite early, then shifting gears to bull reds to finish the day. The theme stays the same: follow the trend, and expect fish to reposition around every front.
Offshore Report
Wahoo water and how to filter the map with Thomas Hilton (Hilton’s RealTime Navigator)
With limited recent offshore intel due to weather, this segment focuses on using satellite data to stack the odds before making a long run. For wahoo, Tom likes a temperature window roughly from the upper 60s (around 67) up into the mid-70s. The key isn’t just the number—it’s finding defined temperature breaks and then layering structure, current, and water color/chlorophyll to find where food and predators are likely to gather.
Tom’s wahoo checklist in the discussion:
A defined temp break inside the preferred range. Structure (wrecks, ledges, live bottom, and fads). Clean water signals (often favoring bluer/cleaner water on chlorophyll for wahoo). Current that creates “feeding zones,” especially where it interacts with edges and contour.
Areas referenced in the conversation included the Destin edge and nearby fads, with attention on how water “pools” along contour and how currents can splay and concentrate conditions. There was also mention of bigger tuna action farther west toward Louisiana/Venice areas, but tuna behavior was treated as less predictable from a single-parameter viewpoint—more of an ongoing learning puzzle compared to wahoo.
If you want to explore the same tools discussed in the episode, check out Hilton’s Offshore and Hilton’s RealTime Navigator.
Conservation Note: release over 20 for sheepshead
A strong theme in Patric’s segment was conservation, especially around sheepshead. His personal rule is to release sheepshead over 20 inches year-round, not just during the spawn. The reasoning is that larger, older fish contribute disproportionately to reproduction, and it’s usually easy to keep plenty of 17–19 inch fish for the table while letting the true breeders go.
Events: 2026 Mobile Boat Show preview
Melissa Miller previews the 2026 Mobile Boat Show, one of the oldest boat shows in the country (dating back to 1952), returning to the Mobile Convention Center. The show runs Friday through Sunday, with a big emphasis on 2026 model boats across categories (center consoles, pontoons, aluminum boats, personal watercraft, and larger offshore boats), plus electronics, accessories, marine services, insurance, financing, docks/lifts, and more.
Family and community features mentioned include the Fetch and Fish dog show, a kids trout pond, kids fishing activities, and interactive educational components. Tickets and details were directed to Gulf Coast Shows.
